Scott, a 6-foot-10 power forward, who is one of the top prospects in the nation, decided to stay home to and help Boyle build a top-25 program.

"Josh improved more in one year than any other player I have ever recruited, which is very encouraging to see," Boyle said on signing day last November. "We recruited him hard and early, and luckily we did because after he recovered from his surgery everyone else in the country quickly realized how talented this player was.

"He is highly skilled and isa terrific young man who comes from a terrific family. He has a bright future ahead of him, just like all of these recruits.

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Landing a player of Scott's caliber helped the coaching staff add Centennial State stars Wesley Gordon (Sierra) and Xavier Talton (Sterling) to an impressive 2012 class that will be the foundation of CU basketball for the next four years.

"I saw that (Boyle's) coaching style is very conducive to winning. That says it all," Scott said. "I just wanted to win, and coach Boyle is a great coach and his staff is great."

Scott ended the recruiting process as a junior in high school and remained loyal to CU as his stock soared.

While leading Lewis-Palmer to the 4A state championship at the Coors Events Center to cap a sensational prep career, Scott averaged 28.5 points per game.

Having the fundamentally sound Scott and reigning Pac-12 rebounding champion Andre Roberson in the paint together could be an unmanageable situation for opposing teams this season.

"He's going to make Andre work a little bit more this year, especially in the post," sophomore guard Askia Booker predicts. "Josh knows how to swivel his butt down there and he can dunk. He's pretty strong. Of course Andre is going to give him just as much of a challenge as he's going to give Andre a challenge."

Discipline and defense are traits many highly touted freshmen need to work on once they arrive on a college campus.

Scott's parents, Alton and Teresa, were both student-athletes at the Air Force Academy.

During his senior season, Scott averaged 11.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 1.2 steals. Those numbers could have been even higher if he weren't hanging out on the bench in the second half of blowout wins.

"Josh is very fundamentally sound and he's strong and he's skilled," Boyle said. "For a freshman big guy, that's pretty rare. Josh is used to overpowering people in the post. Right now he can't do that every single time at this level, so that's an adjustment."

All six freshmen were at CU for summer sessions to take classes and workout with their new teammates.

The confident group says the future is now.

"It's been good. We get to know everybody, get to know the system a little bit, kind of get a feel for what college basketball is like," Scott said of the early practice sessions at the Coors Events Center. "Maybe it's not going to be as bad of a freshman jump for us since we're up here already."

The players and coaches will reconvene in one week for practices leading up to four games against semi-pro teams in Paris (Aug. 15-16), Antwerp (Aug. 19) and Amsterdam (Aug. 20).

Boyle is counting on the foreign trip to give the young and restless Buffs an opportunity to establish some chemistry and get a head start on the learning curve ahead of a challenging 2012-13 schedule.

Expectations are sky-high for CU coming off the Pac-12 Tournament championship and the program's first NCAA Tournament win in 15 years.

"I think we can do everything they did and hopefully more," Scott said. "We're young, but that's not an excuse. Hopefully, we just go out and play basketball."

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